Bachmann Europe has announced its next New Tooling project by Graham Farish.

The model railway company’s announcement came in the run-up to this weekend’s International N Gauge Show.

Bachmann also took the opportunity to launch a new model in the run-up to last year’s show.

The new project will see the creation of the first-ever Class 20/3 Diesel Locomotive models in N gauge.

The Graham Farish branch launched its Scottish Class 20/0s earlier this year, and the new Class
20/3 will bring the story up to date. They will depict the fifteen-strong sub-class that was built from 1995, several of which are still in operation.

Class 20 locomotives were built from 1957, with twenty ordered by British Railways (BR) for its 1955 Modernisation Plan. BR then placed further orders, and by 1962, 128 of the locos had been delivered.

The Class 20s were a standout Type 1 machine, and BR ordered one hundred more. Once the programme of building the locomotives ended in 1968, BR had a fleet of 228, which it used mainly for hauling freight.

In the late 1980s, some of the Class 20s were withdrawn and replaced by more powerful locos built to
newer designs, and by 1994 only 28 remained in main line service.

The government-controlled Direct Rail Services (DRS) was set up in 1994 to transport nuclear fuels. This required simple, robust, reliable locomotives rather than high-powered ones, and the Class 20s were suitable for this work. DRS acquired fifteen Class 20s, which had until then been used to lay track for the Channel Tunnel project.

The locos went through a refurbishment programme which concluded with the five best going to Brush in Loughborough for completion. This included shaving each end to remove all the lights and fittings and replace them with BMAC light clusters.

The refurbishment replaced the trains’ vacuum brakes and blue star multiple working with a multi-working jumper socket at the nose end only. It also upgraded some electrical components and
mounted fuel tanks to the solebar to extend the locos’ working range.

New aluminium-framed cab windscreens were fitted, as was a cab-to-shore radio pod
on the cab roof. Large, square-cornered cabside windows were fitted in place of the originals.

The five locomotives were numbered 20301-20305 and all of them were in operation by 1996.
In 1988, ten more Class 20/3s were created, with the work carried out by Wabtec at Doncaster. Unlike the first five 20/3s , these had multi-working jumper sockets at both ends, which allowed for more options for their deployment. The original five had the cab end socket added retrospectively.

The batch of ten had a top marker light at either end, and in the early 2000s an aerial
was retrofitted to the cab end of all of them except for 20302.

The Class 20/3s worked on nuclear traffic and occasional freight use, infrastructure trains and intermodal workings, and sometimes hauled diverted passenger trains and charters. They were also used for route learning and on Railhead Treatment Trains. By 2013, the locos began to be set aside as the demand for them lessened.

Two were sold to Harry Needle Railroad Company and were painted orange before being hired to GBRf to deliver new London Underground trains from Derby to London.

The new Graham Farish Class 20/3s have accurate detailing to depict the refurbished locomotives. They have injection-moulded bodyshells with precision-engraved panel lines and bodyside grilles. Finely-moulded details include the cabinet door hinges and handles.

The models include some components which are fitted separately, including the fuel tanks, battery boxes and the cab. There are metal handrails along the length of the locomotive, aside each cab door and at the top of the nose. The roof fan grille is etched brass, and buffer heads are reproduced from turned metal.

Models will be available with the multi-working jumper sockets at the nose end only, and with the sockets at both ends. There will also be models with the aerial added to the cab end.

Power comes from a coreless motor with twin flywheels, providing drive to each axle on both bogies, and from electrical pickup from all eight wheels. Directional lighting is fitted, but is limited to the tail lights and headlight at the cab end only, and the top marker light at both ends, where fitted.

Production of the new Class 20/3 models is almost finished, with delivery expected in late 2026. Their prices range between £174.95 and £284.95 with SOUND FITTED. They can be ordered now.